Modifying AODV for Efficient Power-Aware Routing in MANETs

Unlike infrastructure based wireless networks, nodes in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) will also have to act as intermediate nodes for data routing. These additional transmissions will further drain the power resources of mobile nodes which are anyway likely to be running on limited battery power. This paper proposes a power-aware ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing protocol (PAW-AODV) for such power limited applications. This uses the overall power resources of the system more efficiently than the standard AODV protocol by choosing routes based on a power-based cost function. We implement our proposed PAW-AODV protocol by suitably modifying AODV and study it through simulations using QUALNET. Simulation results show that PAW-AODV is able to provide more throughput than AODV over the life of the system and can make better use of the limited battery power available.